


That's the best part

by NeoLight



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Persona 5, Super Smash Brothers
Genre: F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, I Tried, Light Angst, but still, oh boy, the pairing is so rare i had to type it out lol, this was oddly fun to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25795987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoLight/pseuds/NeoLight
Summary: Byleth has accepted that she's an outcast and that the rest of the roster believes she's undeserving of a spot at Sakurai Academy.Joker hasn't accepted it, however.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren (Persona Series)/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	That's the best part

**That’s the best part**

Byleth stood in front of the class, eyes scanning the bored mix of students before her. The inklings were all staring at their—what were they called?—phones in the back of the classroom, chattering in their native tongue in a tone that sounded rather smug, as if they were all well aware nobody could understand them, and they  _ liked  _ that power. Byleth sighed, not having the heart to call them out on it. Lucas and Ness were also buddying up together, staring out the window of the classroom—a viewing of the many floating islands that made up the  _ battlefields _ of this...world? Universe? There wasn’t a term Byleth could find to describe the setting at all. 

But alas, the class had to continue. The newly appointed teacher of Sakurai Academy looked at the blackboard, a diagram of shield-shrinking neatly etched upon its surface. 

Taking a deep breath, she spoke. “Can anyone tell me why it is important to be conscious of your shield?”

Immediately, a hand rose. It was from the front-right of the nondescript desk arrangement—Ren Amamiya, or  _ Joker,  _ as he was formally called during fights. His dark hair and eyes normally had a confident, easygoing smile, but today it was a serious, tight-lipped line. He was one of the Academy’s better students, almost always getting each and every question right. It was for this reason that Byleth opted to ignore his eager hand at first, looking for a  _ little  _ participation from the rest of the class. 

There weren't any. The Inklings, Lucas and Ness all avoided eye-contact, even the  _ piranha plant  _ looked elsewhere from his seat, which, if she weren’t feeling so defeated, Byleth would have been curious as to how that was even  _ possible _ . The only one who was paying attention was...

Ren. With another, long, drawn out sigh, She looked to his bright eyes. “Yes, Mr. Amamiya?”

His answer was perfect and well articulated; at least he was a  _ good  _ consistency in Byleth’s class. “Because it will cause disorientation if we keep holding it for too long.”

Byleth gave him a curt nod as a thank you; his answer was more for her sake than his. Any longer and the classroom’s silence may have suffocated the bearer of the Crest of Flames. 

But the small saving grace from his answer was short-lived, and the silence once again blanketed the small classroom.  _ Really,  _ Byleth thought bitterly.  _ Why was I given that damn letter anyways? _

* * *

  
  


The students all leaked out of the classroom one by one, talking amongst themselves in a lively fashion that contrasted the ignorant, bored silence of the period before. Byleth did not miss this change, but she had learned to ignore it. Moving to get an eraser from her desk, she began wiping off the fading chalk from the board. 

“You just gonna take all that crap?” a voice, clear and accusatory, shook Byleth from her thoughts. She whipped around, making eye-contact once again with the deep, piercing eyes of Joker. He flitted them lightly, adjusting his glasses in non-surprise.

“Amamiya, you have training in a few minutes, correct? You should really get going.” She turned her back to him, getting materials ready for her next class. She didn’t hear footsteps. That, she fully expected. Joker was never known for backing down. Not that he was special in that regard, you needed a certain tenacity to make it to… this place.

_But_ _damn it, if someone could listen to me for once!_ was the bitter thought that went unsaid. 

“You alright, teach?” Ren’s words were surprisingly thoughtful and concerned-sounding. Byleth froze, suddenly wary.  _ What is he on about? _

“Your fists are clenched,” He continued, answering her internal question. “Need something to get off your chest?” 

Byleth looked down and was frustrated to find that yes, her hands were clenched into a pair of angry, frustrated fists. Cursing under her breath, she flexed them open, hoping the boy in front of her didn’t notice her sudden change in disposition. 

His eyes flashed behind clear-as-day lenses, and Byleth mentally admonished herself for wishful thinking—this was the leader of the  _ Phantom Thieves of Hearts _ ; reading people’s emotions was half of his job description. His observational skills were going to see through her, even if she didn’t show anything visually. 

He stood up defiantly, and she almost laughed—he held himself so proudly, like it was his duty to help her out, somehow. Maybe it was, back at his old home. But here, she really wished he would mind his own business. 

“Really—are you ok? You can talk to me, you know.” Ren was confident and unwavering. If he had been a student of Garreg Mach, Byleth would have worked to make sure he was a trusted ally. Like herself, Joker specialized in strategy. They really were cut from the same cloth. 

She started idly wondering to herself what house he would fall into back at the monastery... he was loyal to his friends, which the Blue Lions prided themselves on—but at the same time, he was ambitious, which was the trait Edlegard looked for in her own kin in the Black Eagles, and he craved adventure and challenge, something reflected in each of the Golden Deer.

He fit in each house, but also none of them all. It was a lot like Byleth herself, she realized. 

“Teach, are you  _ really  _ ok? You're spacing out.” Ren’s voice shook Byleth from her thoughts. 

“Oh? Oh! I’m really sorry, Amamiya. I got lost in thought for a second.” she was frantic in her response, feeling flustered despite the answer being entirely honest. 

Joker picked up on that,  _ obviously,  _ and moved closer to her. “Geez, you can’t just hold a conversation, can you? You sure you’re handling things?” God, the  _ dripping  _ concern in his voice was just  _ exhausting.  _

Byleth stepped away from her  _ student _ —she had to remember this was her  _ student  _ who was doing this. They were the same age, but— _ student.  _ Yes. Why was he acting like this? Outside of being an enthusiastic pupil, he really never talked to her. Unless…

“You aren’t planning on...stealing my heart, are you?” She asked, only half-joking. 

“Maybe.” Joker’s response was completely serious and unwavering. His eyes were hidden by the light refracting off of the glasses, so Byleth couldn’t read his face at all.

When it finally hit her what he said, she nearly yelped. “Wait, what?” 

What followed next left her even more stunned—Ren broke out laughing like an idiot, holding his sides in like he couldn’t keep himself together. He slammed a hand down on the desk behind him to keep balance, and Byleth couldn’t help but feel like she was being mocked. An embarrassed red flush worked its way up to her features. 

“What?” she demanded angrily at the still-laughing phantom thief. He raised his free hand up to ask her to wait. It was a good ten seconds until he regained his composure, and Byleth felt like she was left out of a joke. 

“S...sorry, Teach.” His smile wasn’t smug or mocking, now. It was completely genuine. “I just… you actually took me seriously! I couldn’t—couldn’t help myself.”

Oh, her cherry-red face wasn’t cooling down at all. “Well...I don’t know how you... _ do it _ , so what was I supposed to think?” She felt strangely defensive. 

He wiped a tear from his eye. “Yeah, that’s...that’s fair. But you must have  _ some  _ idea if I transform into this—”

He pauses, and his school uniform disappears in a blaze of light, transforming into his thief outfit—“when I fight.” 

Byleth was silent for a moment. Joker’s outfit was something she couldn’t ever figure out—it definitely fit the bill of phantom thief, or, she thought. As she was from Fódlan, she really couldn’t recognize it for what it was, but its overwhelming style was clear to her. Something that she felt she lacked. 

Another flash, and the highschool clothes were back. “I’m only here to fight, though. Same as everyone. Your heart’s safe, don’t worry. But is it really an issue if a student cares about his teacher’s health?”

Byleth shook her head. “I’m healthy enough, Amamiya. It is an issue if you miss class, though.”

He smirked. “I skipped half a day of school when I was on probation. Besides, it’s a review day on recovery, which is easy for me. Now, shielding? I’m struggling with that—be a shame if the professor wasn’t feeling well enough to teach the course.”

_ What an ass.  _ Framing his unwarranted concern like it was for the benefit of his own learning to trap her into opening up to him was evil.  _ Damn you, Joker.  _

Deciding that there wasn’t a way out of this, she reluctantly stopped what she was doing to have a conversation with the teen. “What do you want to know, Amamiya?”

In contrast to his previous aplomb, his eyes widened in surprise, probably because he didn’t expect her to actually answer. and it took a second for the boy to regain his posture. When he did, his suave tone was mixed with more annoying concern when he asked his next question. “I guess...I don’t know why you just sit there and take it.”

Byleth knew what he was talking about, but she still asked. “What do you mean?”

His answer was detailed, clearly he had been thinking about this for a while. “All of the students—even the other teachers here—treat you like shit, you know? Nobody pays attention in class, and you just let them get away with it, and I don’t understand why.” 

Byleth rolled her eyes at him, there was no way he would  _ ever _ understand, either. “I appreciate your concern, but I promise that it doesn’t affect my teaching abilities. Now, if we stay around any longer, you truly will be late. No matter what you think, I have to advise you go to your class as quickly—”

“So you don’t deny that people aren’t treating you right.” Ren interrupted. His smile was awfully triumphant—Byleth had mistepped. That cheeky grin fell away quickly as he fired off another aggressive question. “What’s keeping you from telling me about it?”

Byleth sighed again for the ‘nth time that day—he really wasn’t quitting. However, in a last ditch effort to get Ren off her case, she said rather rudely, “We hardly even know each other. I don’t get why you want to know so much about me.”

Instead of being put off by her sudden outburst—mind you, it was a  _ Byleth- _ sized outburst, but still impactful for her—he smiled  _ again  _ through his dark mop of hair. “Newsflash, teach, but we hardly know  _ anyone  _ here. We came at around the same time. Out of anyone, I would consider  _ you  _ to be one of the people I know best.”

That’s right. They  _ did  _ come to… wherever this place was around the same time.  _ Joker _ was the first of five, and Byleth was the last.  _ His  _ welcome party was grand and cheerful, and everyone was excited to meet him and learn about his abilities. 

Byleth, on the other hand—she was discarded, thrown away and treated like she was only taking up space. 

“Teach? You’re tensing up again. Is something wrong?” 

Ugh. He didn’t know when to back off, did he?

But Byleth had already decided that humoring him was going to save her trouble. Running a hand through her aquamarine hair, she decided to ask him a question. “Joker, how many friends have you made here? Would you…” She paused, searching for the right way to say it. “Would you consider yourself well acquainted?”

For his part, Ren was doubly perplexed. Calling him  _ Joker  _ was a sign of formality nobody really expressed to him outside of battle anymore—it was a measure of the distance that Byleth appeared to be artificially creating between them. He was almost a little hurt, given all the effort he was going through to talk to her. 

“Yeah, I have… friends. People like me well enough, I guess.” He adjusted his glasses, which was a nervous tick he tended to do when he was unsure or wary. 

Byleth smiled, then. It wasn’t a happy smile, instead being more sad and defeated than anything. “Yeah...that’s what I thought.”

Now incredibly concerned and worried, Ren looked into her blue eyes, searching for an answer to the sudden mystique. “Where are you going with this?”

Byleth didn’t answer for a moment. She was quiet when she finally answered, still wondering why she was confiding in her student like this, and why it felt so  _ different _ —she normally had no problem talking to her students back at the monastery, and Ren was just another student to her...so why?

“I was only making an observation, Amamiya, don’t worry. I’m glad that you're adjusting well enough to life here.” She sighed deeply, hoping he could see where she was getting. 

Byleth was right to trust he could connect the dots. His answering smile was oddly knowing, and the young professor was put on edge. “Are you  _ lonely _ , Teach?” Ren’s tone was smug, and Byleth really didn’t want to dignify it with an answer. That was  _ not  _ what she meant, at  _ all.  _

But she couldn’t stop the “N-no, what are you talking about?” that left her once-again flushed cheeks.

  
  
  


“Well, come on. What was I supposed to think?” He seemed genuinely confused at her meaning. Maybe he wasn’t as smart as Byleth thought he was. She rolled her eyes at him.

“That’s not what I was implying. I’m honestly okay with the social circle I have with the other people from... _ my world _ . I was just—”

A slam. Ren had thrown his palm down onto the desk’s wooden surface across from her. “Are you really okay with it? You don’t want to have more friends?” His eyes seemed to blaze as he stared into Byleth’s own—he was very close to her, leaning across the desk the way that he was.

It hit her then what this may look like to people walking by the classroom, and Byleth jumped away with a small  _ eep.  _ “W-what’s wrong with that? A few close friends can be better than a lot of distant ones!”

“So can I be a part of the  _ close friends  _ group, then?” His serious, unwavering tone was accompanied by an easy smile. For anyone else, it would have looked unnatural, but Joker somehow pulled off the look. 

“W-why?” Was the confused, frantic answer that fluttered out of Byleth’s mouth. 

The boy didn’t miss a beat. “Come on, can’t a student want to learn more about his teacher?” His eye-contact didn’t break as he lifted his hand from the wood grain. 

“Well, sure, that’s fine, but—”

Joker wasn’t done talking. With a smirk and a playful look in his eyes, he finished— 

“Especially when she’s this hot?” 

In reflex, her hand swept down to hit the back of his own; it was a testament to her own strength that he went “Ow, geez!” a genuinely pained expression as he pulled away from her. “I can’t give a compliment to you?”

Despite everything, she still glared at him self-righteously. “You can, but try to stay respectful. Now,” She paused for a moment, figuring out what she wanted to say, and she felt her voice grow small. “Why… why do you want to be friends with me?”

Instead of giving a straight answer, like he should have, he asked a question back at her, passing the baton. “What, do you think I wouldn’t want to be?” The question was pointed and sharp, and his dark eyes demanded an answer. 

It was intimidating, but Byleth found herself opening up. “Nobody else wants to, I guess. And you’re... well. People like you, so it doesn’t make sense that you’re so interested in me. Especially more than others.” Her voice was quiet and even, and she stared at the ground. When she looked up to meet Ren’s eyes, she was shocked to see a strange light in them.

“Finally, a real answer.” He smiled another one of his uncharacteristic soft smiles, and Byleth almost felt herself wanting to smile back. His smile fell away to seriousness quickly, however. “But, people want to be your friend, you know that? What about the others from your world?”

Byleth sighed at the irony. There were seven others who had come from her world before, and while they were a somewhat close-knit group of friends, they were only that way because of association. “ _ They’re  _ the reason I’m disliked, kind of.” 

Joker looked confused. “What do you mean? You guys have a bad reputation or something?”

Byleth shook her head. “I guess you wouldn’t know...there’s a lot of us. It’s because of that, that when I was invited for  _ whatever  _ reason… people weren’t enthused. I’m not unique enough, I suppose. That’s what they look for.”

For some reason, that made Ren look very angry—Byleth felt herself shrinking back. “People don’t like you because you’re not  _ unique  _ enough? That’s—”

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “It is what it is, Amamiya, I accepted it. It’s okay, honestly.” Really, the longer she spoke, the softer her voice seemed to get. 

It was the opposite with her acquaintance, it seemed. His eyes blazed with a foreign, forceful tone. “You’re unique, Byleth! You have skill with some many kinds of weapons and magic. I’ve got, what—a knife? A grappling hook? Besides, you must be  _ something  _ special if they appointed you as a  _ professor _ here.”

Byleth was speechless, and for a moment, she found her heart beating just a  _ little  _ quicker in her chest. But in that same moment, she regained her posture as quickly as she lost it. Her next words were bitter, and uncalled for.

“It’s no use fighting it,  _ Joker _ . I’m an outcast. Not like  _ you  _ would understand anything about that.” 

His eyes widened. “Oh—look. I know that I’m pushing you to say some things you wouldn’t normally say, and I’ll back off if you tell me to… but— _ really? I wouldn’t understand?  _ I thought teachers were supposed to know who their students are.” Byleth winced as the normally confident and upbeat fighter clenched his teeth. For once, he was the once breaking eye-contact. 

When she didn’t say anything, he continued. 

“I was labeled—I am labeled—as a criminal back home. Before I became a Phantom Thief. People didn’t trust me, and talked about me behind my back, and it was hard to make friends. The Thieves saved me, really. It would have been more difficult, otherwise.” It seemed like the table had turned—Joker was suddenly quiet, with Byleth as the concerned onlooker.

“Amamiya, I’m so sorry.” It seemed their situations were reversed. Back in Fódlan, even the modest Byleth could admit she was at least well-liked by everyone in the monastery. To be labeled and hated everywhere you went in your own  _ world  _ was very different from her own situation.

“It’s fine!” his smile came back easily—too easily, in fact. “That’s probably why I want to get to know you better, you know? I was like you too— _ don’t fight it, just go with it _ —but I learned with the help of my friends that that's not the way to go. So,”

His next smile was blinding despite not showing any teeth—Byleth felt her cheeks heating up. “Do you… wanna be friends?”

She felt herself nod as she stared into his eyes, unable to look away or speak. When she finally felt her jaw again, she said— 

“I’m your teacher, though. You sure you want to be friends with me?”

To that, he simply winked. “That’s the best part.”

On his way out, Byleth brought a gloved hand up to her cheeks, unsurprised to find them positively  _ burning.  _

  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i told you i tried.


End file.
